PMI eyes Phl as export hub for smoke-free products

Citing the Philippines’ “very progressive” regulation and investment-friendly environment, Philip Morris International (PMI) is eyeing to make the country an “export hub” for its science-based smoke-free products, company officials said.

- By HELEN FLORES

PMI CEO Jacek Olczak also noted that the company has not built a single cigarette factory over the last 10 years and has converted some of its plants, including one in the Philippines, into smoke-free facilities.

Christos Kiritsis, vice president of Smoke Free Products for South and Southeast Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States and Middle East and Africa Region of PMI, said the Philippines is one of the countries where smoke-free products are properly regulated.

He said the Philippines’ “very progressive regulatory framework” makes it an ideal country to have investments in smoke-free products “not only for the local market, but also for exportation.”

“We want to make it eventually an export hub, especially for products like the SFP (smoke-free product),” Kiritsis told visiting Filipino journalists on the sidelines of the “Technovation 2025” event at the W Hotel The Palm here.